BAM!, or the Banning Alumni Movement, is a grassroots effort initiated by former Banning High School students: Carmen Chavez, Josue Rodriguez, Tony Casillas, Oscar Duarte and myself, Jairo Bogarin. The group sprung from a common desire to make a direct impact on our community, specifically with graduating seniors. Through conversations about our own experiences, we felt that the scholarships offered at our local high school weren’t enough for the numerous grads headed to universities. Our vision would be simple: give college scholarships to as many Banning graduates as possible. We would like the whole community to participate and are establishing a strategy for other alumni to contribute. The scholarships we’re creating will have unconventional requirements, and will not solely focus on grade-point average as eligibility. This will open the doors for the hundreds of students who may not have a good overall grade average but strive to attend a college or university. Our goal is not only to raise money, but to organize community events to educate and entertain the Wilmington youth as well.

Recently, we hosted the First Annual David Toomalatai Flag Football Tournament. David graduated from Banning High in 2005. He was a close friend of ours and former football teammate. After graduating from Banning, David joined the military where he would receive medical training. He died in Iraq in 2007 when his ambulance ran over a roadside bomb. We felt that having a football event would be a great way to honor his memory. He is survived by his young son, Damian.

The turnout for the event was amazing. We had over 100 Wilmington community members come out to watch the tournament. The local Wilmington Fire Department played in the tournament and provided a grill and hot-dog stand. A few policemen arrived to help with crowd control. Friends and family of David showed their love and appreciation for Banning High by coming out to show their support. The tournament was a great success! We raised more money than we had hoped, and gained exposure for BAM! Half of the funds we raised will go towards a scholarship fund for little Damian while the other half will be used for a scholarship opportunity for Banning High seniors. We thank the community for their support and we hope the funds will help ease the cost of a higher education for some of our graduating seniors.

Learn more about BAM! and what we’re doing by reading up on future events and following us on facebook.